Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.

Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!

[Nintendo eShop] THREAD IS DEAD! POST IN THE NEW ONE!

The purpose of this thread is to discuss all of the latest and greatest coming from the magical world of the Nintendo eShop service on the 3DS and the WiiU. With the eShop, you can get games, demos, videos, and more! If you have any questions or want to recommend games/apps, feel free to PM me and I'll add them to the lists below. Digital versions of first-party games are available on the eShop at Midnight EST/EDT of the game's launch. So without any further ado....

eShop, Virtual Console, DSi, and Club Nintendo games

eShop games

These games are created exclusively for the 3DS. Some of them are remakes of old NES games, called 3D Classics, while others are original titles. Either way, there is a lot to choose from.

Great eShop games that you should totally own (in no particular order):

You can download older games on the 3DS. Classic portable systems such as the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear, and the TurboGrafx-16. In addition, NES games recently became available to early adapters of the 3DS as a payback for paying the $250 launch price tag. For a complete list of games available, click on this link.

Older DSi games are also available for download on the 3DS as well. There are plenty to choose from and, to make everyone's life easier, our own UncleSporky has created a list of some of the best games to get. Here is a site that reviews DSiware games. The only site I know of that reviews every DSiware game

Nintendo is now allowing players to buy download games for their Wii, DSi, and 3DS via the Club Nintendo website. All first party games, and some third party titles, offer codes that you can enter on the official Nintendo website. Fill out a survey and earn coins (and an additional follow-up survey for extra coins). The coins can buy a variety of posters, cases, and various neat stuff. But the games are where it's at. Every month, Nintendo is offering up four games to download. You can find the current games available here.

Featured Applications:

Nintendo Video: A free download app that randomly adds short 3D movies to watch. Blue Man Group, College Humor, and Dreamworks have all contributed.
SwapNote: A free download app that allows you to send notes, pics, and sound clips to friends via Street Pass or Spot Pass.
Netflix: Link your account to your 3DS to watch (2d) movies on the small screen.
Hulu Plus: Just like Netflix, link your account to watch TV shows on the go.
3D movie recording: Record up to 10 minutes of 3D footage and upload it to youtube.
Game demos: Download demos of upcoming 3DS releases.
System Transfer: Transfer information from an existing DS, DSi, or 3DS to a 3DS. Great for when the inevitable redesign hits the scene.
A full list of additional built-in software can be found on Nintendo's 3DS site.

Connect with fellow PA people

Sir Ultimos has created a friend code matching system for us to easily connect with each other. Check it out: Sir Ultimos web site and friend code matcher. I also highly encourage everyone to add your 3DS system code in your signature if you want other people to add you.

Since this was linked from the [dying/soon to be dead] 3DS thread, is this a place to continue talking about it in general, or will that talk be shut down since this is an eShop thread? Just wondering, since it was brought up before but not thoroughly, and I don't want to come here looking to discuss something and take this thread off on a tangent it shouldn't be on.

I would say is where you can only discuss eShop stuff at this point. It's annoying to say the least as very few 3DS games have a chance to stay in the top few pages of the forum for any length of time.

With that said, I've been tempted by SMB Nes on the virtual console, but youtube clips make it look a bit on the dark/blurry side. Is this bad camera work or is the game not great on the 3ds screen?

I'm currently working on the second set of bonus levels on PushMo and I just defeated the corrupt monk on Sakura Samurai. Some of those multi-attack enemies are TOUGH! I have a hard time keeping my perfect dodge bonus.

Spoiler:

Though yes, I did exploit a lone archer for 99, and got 750 gold for it.

I would say is where you can only discuss eShop stuff at this point. It's annoying to say the least as very few 3DS games have a chance to stay in the top few pages of the forum for any length of time.

With that said, I've been tempted by SMB Nes on the virtual console, but youtube clips make it look a bit on the dark/blurry side. Is this bad camera work or is the game not great on the 3ds screen?

They did the same bullshit screen darkening thing they did on the Wii VC releases, and they're stretched horizontally to make them 4:3 (since the analog signal caused the NES to have non-square pixels), so they're blurry as well. I don't know what their problem is, because it seems like they're trying to simulate the original output, but NES games never looked this dark.

I would say is where you can only discuss eShop stuff at this point. It's annoying to say the least as very few 3DS games have a chance to stay in the top few pages of the forum for any length of time.

With that said, I've been tempted by SMB Nes on the virtual console, but youtube clips make it look a bit on the dark/blurry side. Is this bad camera work or is the game not great on the 3ds screen?

They did the same bullshit screen darkening thing they did on the Wii VC releases, and they're stretched horizontally to make them 4:3 (since the analog signal caused the NES to have non-square pixels), so they're blurry as well. I don't know what their problem is, because it seems like they're trying to simulate the original output, but NES games never looked this dark.

Is there a way to force it into normal ratio like the DS games? Hold start while you select it or something?

I would say is where you can only discuss eShop stuff at this point. It's annoying to say the least as very few 3DS games have a chance to stay in the top few pages of the forum for any length of time.

With that said, I've been tempted by SMB Nes on the virtual console, but youtube clips make it look a bit on the dark/blurry side. Is this bad camera work or is the game not great on the 3ds screen?

They did the same bullshit screen darkening thing they did on the Wii VC releases, and they're stretched horizontally to make them 4:3 (since the analog signal caused the NES to have non-square pixels), so they're blurry as well. I don't know what their problem is, because it seems like they're trying to simulate the original output, but NES games never looked this dark.

Is there a way to force it into normal ratio like the DS games? Hold start while you select it or something?

Nope. There's no 1:1 pixel mode that I've been able to find.

It's dumb, because 3D Classics don't have any horizontal correction even though they suffer from the same issue. And the colors aren't fucked up. So 3D Classics Kirby's Adventure, even in 2D mode, looks better than a VC release would. Also, the 3D Classics have complete button remapping feature, you can remap anything to anything.

I would say is where you can only discuss eShop stuff at this point. It's annoying to say the least as very few 3DS games have a chance to stay in the top few pages of the forum for any length of time.

With that said, I've been tempted by SMB Nes on the virtual console, but youtube clips make it look a bit on the dark/blurry side. Is this bad camera work or is the game not great on the 3ds screen?

They did the same bullshit screen darkening thing they did on the Wii VC releases, and they're stretched horizontally to make them 4:3 (since the analog signal caused the NES to have non-square pixels), so they're blurry as well. I don't know what their problem is, because it seems like they're trying to simulate the original output, but NES games never looked this dark.

Is there a way to force it into normal ratio like the DS games? Hold start while you select it or something?

Nope, because the NES games match the vertical resolution of the 3DS screen on a 1:1 scale.

I'm looking forward to some impressions of the Bravely Default demo from people with a Japanese 3DS. Game's looking a tad more polished than the last time it was showcased, which has me hoping the game itself is a good 'un.

Donkey Kong still pisses me off because they went the lazy route there and didn't support any of the Super Gameboy enhancements (which are quite substantial with that game)

Not to mention pretty much every notable Game Boy game took advantage of the SGB somehow, even ones released before it was out. Super Mario Land 1 and 2, Metroid 2 and Kirby's Dream Land all had pre-selected color palettes that they could simply allow us to toggle on and off the same way they do the horrible green color scheme. Even the GBA and GBP supported those without configuration. And then there are games like Donkey Kong, Kirby's Dream Land 2, and Mole Mania that had borders, custom palettes (which could use more than 4 colors) and sound enhancements.

They didn't support a reasonable control scheme, either. B and A are mapped to B and A, while on the Super Game Boy they recognized that that wasn't optimal, and allowed you to switch between B/A and Y/B. The final version 3DS VC NES games (and the GBA games) also support using X/A, which is an acceptable solution considering they are absolutely, 100% against being competent.

Hopefully they'll update the GB games to support that as well, but, you know. Incompetence.

Donkey Kong still pisses me off because they went the lazy route there and didn't support any of the Super Gameboy enhancements (which are quite substantial with that game)

Not to mention pretty much every notable Game Boy game took advantage of the SGB somehow, even ones released before it was out. Super Mario Land 1 and 2, Metroid 2 and Kirby's Dream Land all had pre-selected color palettes that they could simply allow us to toggle on and off the same way they do the horrible green color scheme. Even the GBA and GBP supported those without configuration. And then there are games like Donkey Kong, Kirby's Dream Land 2, and Mole Mania that had borders, custom palettes (which could use more than 4 colors) and sound enhancements.

They didn't support a reasonable control scheme, either. B and A are mapped to B and A, while on the Super Game Boy they recognized that that wasn't optimal, and allowed you to switch between B/A and Y/B. The final version 3DS VC NES games (and the GBA games) also support using X/A, which is an acceptable solution considering they are absolutely, 100% against being competent.

Hopefully they'll update the GB games to support that as well, but, you know. Incompetence.

Yes to all of this. Although I'll add at least GBC and GBA totally ignored the SGB stuff too (don't know about GBP, guessing the same thing). It's like Nintendo wants to forget this thing existed when it was a pretty damn popular device. But at least playing Donkey Kong '94 on my GBA I could pick freaking color profiles to not make it look stupid!

The annoying thing is something like the 3DS would be ideal for bringing back something along the lines of what SGB let you do - I mean, imagine being able to bring up a touch screen menu system on the bottom screen where you could pick colors on the fly (with touch controls) and immediately see them take effect on the top screen. You don't even necessarily need to pause the top screen for this. Hell, let the person save color profiles to their SD card (because seriously, it would be a pretty small file) and pick them on the fly. So when you're playing, say, Mega Man GB, you can set different palettes for different stages by tapping different profiles. How awesome would that be?

Argg, it's making me mad just thinking about all the potential lost here

Argg, it's making me mad just thinking about all the potential lost here

The most annoying part to me is how much effort they put into some things. They made these amazing GB/GBC borders that you can enable in unscaled mode, and even made it so you could turn on the 3D to simulate depth of the screen. They added a mode that simulates the horrible color and response time of the original Game Boy LCD. But they didn't implement any of the basic features that the SGB had almost twenty years ago, even for games like Donkey Kong '94 where it was a selling point.

If a guy is bitten by a zombie and still has a raging hardon as he dies, will he be a zombie sex fiend? Sticking his bone in peoples general directions instead of trying to bite them? These are questions I need answers to.

I'm looking forward to some impressions of the Bravely Default demo from people with a Japanese 3DS. Game's looking a tad more polished than the last time it was showcased, which has me hoping the game itself is a good 'un.

The visuals look amazing. The hand drawn looking environments should be great to look at in 3D. I know nothing about the actual battle system though. Hoping the demo makes it here. Hoping the game makes it here for that matter too.

Ignore the crap about the shitty GB Donkey Kong "Land" game at the beginning and scroll down for the DK '94 stuff. This does a pretty decent job of showing exactly what SGB adds to the game. (edit: as an unrelated note, the rest of the articles he wrote on this are actually super interesting... I wasn't aware Super Gameboy could actually use the SNES's sound and graphics chips... shame very few games took advantage - link to the intro: http://blog.scoutshonour.com/post/2350461718 - follow the links at the bottom of each page to the next part)

Which in 1994, on a god damn classic Gameboy game, looked pretty impressive

Edit 2: Actually reading these articles, I think I'm starting to understand more why they didn't support SGB enhancements - namely that the device essentially accessed chips inside the SNES itself (aka, the emulator would probably need to be fooled into thinking it was running an SNES somehow). That being said, homebrew emulators are able to emulate this stuff so I can't imagine Nintendo couldn't code theirs to do so as well (especially given the very small number of SGB enhanced titles out there, it's not like there would be surprises).

Hmmm....honestly I don't know. Find Mii isn't going to get it's own thread, but it also isn't exactly eShop related. I'd imagine if it didn't become a focal point of the thread, or derailed it in any way, the mods would probably let it slide. Good question though. If it becomes a big issue, I think we'd be best just PMing a mod. But don't just PM a mod for any old reason, I'm sure they hate that.

If a guy is bitten by a zombie and still has a raging hardon as he dies, will he be a zombie sex fiend? Sticking his bone in peoples general directions instead of trying to bite them? These are questions I need answers to.

I would say is where you can only discuss eShop stuff at this point. It's annoying to say the least as very few 3DS games have a chance to stay in the top few pages of the forum for any length of time.
With that said, I've been tempted by SMB Nes on the virtual console, but youtube clips make it look a bit on the dark/blurry side. Is this bad camera work or is the game not great on the 3ds screen?

They did the same bullshit screen darkening thing they did on the Wii VC releases, and they're stretched horizontally to make them 4:3 (since the analog signal caused the NES to have non-square pixels), so they're blurry as well. I don't know what their problem is, because it seems like they're trying to simulate the original output, but NES games never looked this dark.

Maybe it was the NES cable that had unusually high brightness and you're just seeing what the hardware output picture was actually like? If memory serves some of the Nintendo consoles had compatible cables and using another console's cable would get you a different brightness level.
Not that they couldn't have just upped the emulator brightness to compensate.

Hmmm....honestly I don't know. Find Mii isn't going to get it's own thread, but it also isn't exactly eShop related. I'd imagine if it didn't become a focal point of the thread, or derailed it in any way, the mods would probably let it slide. Good question though. If it becomes a big issue, I think we'd be best just PMing a mod. But don't just PM a mod for any old reason, I'm sure they hate that.

That's what really sucks about the lack of an all-encompassing 3DS thread. I feel like I'm not allowed to ask silly little questions here because it's not on-topic.

Given that we don't know the download caps on the thing just quite yet, we might very well come to see a few games get simultaneous digital and retail releases. I guess stuff like that would come down to individual developer's decisions, I doubt Nintendo themselves would say no to devs that want their games both in stores and on the eShop.

Given that we don't know the download caps on the thing just quite yet, we might very well come to see a few games get simultaneous digital and retail releases. I guess stuff like that would come down to individual developer's decisions, I doubt Nintendo themselves would say no to devs that want their games both in stores and on the eShop.

Didn't Team Meat reveal that the WiiWare size limit was 40MB, and the 3DS eShop limit was 2GB?

Given that we don't know the download caps on the thing just quite yet, we might very well come to see a few games get simultaneous digital and retail releases. I guess stuff like that would come down to individual developer's decisions, I doubt Nintendo themselves would say no to devs that want their games both in stores and on the eShop.

Didn't Team Meat reveal that the WiiWare size limit was 40MB, and the 3DS eShop limit was 2GB?

That was a misquote. They don't know what the limit is, but it's most likely much larger than the Wiiware limit.

Given that we don't know the download caps on the thing just quite yet, we might very well come to see a few games get simultaneous digital and retail releases. I guess stuff like that would come down to individual developer's decisions, I doubt Nintendo themselves would say no to devs that want their games both in stores and on the eShop.

Didn't Team Meat reveal that the WiiWare size limit was 40MB, and the 3DS eShop limit was 2GB?

Was just going to say this. Which wouldn't be so bad, as there are plenty of games on Vita, or any system for that matter, that fall below, sometimes well below, this threshold. Then I read this:

Given that we don't know the download caps on the thing just quite yet, we might very well come to see a few games get simultaneous digital and retail releases. I guess stuff like that would come down to individual developer's decisions, I doubt Nintendo themselves would say no to devs that want their games both in stores and on the eShop.

Didn't Team Meat reveal that the WiiWare size limit was 40MB, and the 3DS eShop limit was 2GB?

That was a misquote. They don't know what the limit is, but it's most likely much larger than the Wiiware limit.

Hopefully it is somewhat accurate, if not more than 2GB. Then we may see the same setup, and be able to discuss all games in one inclusive thread. But I only want this type of service if it becomes account specific, not tied to the hardware. I thought I heard somewhere that Nintendo was working on an online setup of this sort, where you have a username type deal and can sign in to devices like PSN and XBL. Is this only for the Wii U, or will the 3DS be jumping on this as well? I really don't want to wait another handheld generation to want to start downloading my games for a Nintendo system.